Exclusive: CT Attorney General files lawsuit against Sunrun

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) – Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is suing Sunrun, one the biggest solar companies in the country. The lawsuit also lists Sunrun’s affiliated marketing companies and two of its sales representatives.

Sunrun is a company the I-Team has highlighted before.

Since then, the I-Team has heard from 4 additional Connecticut homeowners unhappy with their Sunrun experience, including Lincoln Parker in Vernon.

Parker signed a contract with Sunrun in October 2023, and more than 30 panels were installed on his home shortly thereafter. By Thanksgiving, he started to notice something was wrong.

“Within a month my house was leaking, and then I had to argue with them for months and months for them to actually come out and repair the damages,” said Parker.

In April 2024, contractors came out to remove the solar panels and fix the roof. However, before the work could be finished, Parker received a ‘stop work’ order from the Town of Vernon. The letter said proper permits had never been pulled. The solar panels that were removed are still sitting under Parker’s back porch.

“I do not trust them to re-install my panels, and they are saying I cannot back out of the contract,” said Parker.

So far in 2024, the Connecticut Attorney General’s office has received 17 complaints about Sunrun.

“These are all very serious allegations and I had to act,” said Tong.

On July 15th, the state of Connecticut filed a lawsuit against Sunrun, Sunrun installation services inc., Bright Planet Solar, Elevate Solar Solutions LLC, Dakota Grumet and Sierra Howes.

The lawsuit alleges deceptive, unfair and otherwise unlawful sales practices. The 26-page complaint outlines a number of issues, including allegations of salespeople forging homeowners’ signatures.

“In one of these cases, it appears the salespeople actually forged this person’s voice using I don’t know how they did it, AI or some kind of computer-assisted forgery and actually forged this person’s voice,” said Tong.

Tong has previously sued Solar Wolf and Vision Solar. This new lawsuit is the third solar company the state has sued in the past 2 years.

“I’m disheartened to say it doesn’t say very good things about the industry,” said Tong. “All of these things make it really hard for people to trust the solar industry.”

Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli provided the below statement about the lawsuit:

“As more people consider solar power, it is critical that the companies that sell, finance, and install solar panels are acting ethically and fairly to consumers. We have received many complaints related to SunRun and other solar company actions. Thank you to the team at DCP that continues to work on this issue, and to the Attorney General’s office for taking on this case.”

DCP and the AG’s office work together when receiving complaints about solar companies. You can file a complaint with DCP online.

After the I-Team reached out, Sunrun called Lincoln Parker and agreed to terminate his contract.

“My experience with Sunrun is they just care about your money, and they don’t care about the quality,” said Parker

A Sunrun representative provided the below statement:

At Sunrun, we highly value each of our customers and pride ourselves on leading the industry in customer experience. Unfortunately, Mr. Parker has requested the cancellation and removal of his solar system, which we have agreed to.

Regarding the Attorney General’s lawsuit, the sales representatives and installation crews involved were not Sunrun employees. While Sunrun has in-house sales and installation teams, we also work with a network of experienced partners and subcontractors who have access to sell and install our products and services. We require all our partners to adhere to our strict code of conduct and high-quality standards. In these instances, the sales representatives and installation crews allegedly did not meet our expectations, which we are addressing through the lawsuit and otherwise. We are also actively working to resolve any remaining issues directly with the customers involved.

The I-Team put together a half hour special, “Going Solar”, looking into what you should know before signing up for solar energy. You can watch the full special here.

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